About Me
I am Queen Nzinga Maroon Nanny, a member of The Yellow Pocahontas Mardi Gras Indian Tribe, Inc. I have been a member since 1999.
I joined the Yellow Pocahontas when I was asked to be
their 1st Spy Boy's Queen, who has been a member
for 37 years, who is now the Trail Chief. I was
told I might be the first female to mask as a Spy
Boy's Queen.
I was first exposed to one of the
intricacies of masking Indian when I was
a very young child. I watched my uncle
Ralph sew the designs for his suits.
He was a long-standing member of the
Wild Magnolias tribe.
My father and his brother masked
Indian when they were young boys and
teenagers. I didn't learn this until
after I started masking. I believe
they were members of the Wild Magnolias,
because of where they lived during their
childhoods. Unfortunately, I am the only
person of my family who is a participant
today.
The Mardi Gras Indian Tradition is
Black New Orleanians' Mardi Gras.
For many years Black people were denied
participation in mainstream Mardi Gras.
"Masking Indian" is at least 100
years old. Some historians believe it
dates back to the 1700's. It has been
passed down, mostly, through the oral
tradition. For this reason it is
difficult to pinpoint how old it is.
I believe, the Mardi Gras Indian
Tradition was born out of the African
slaves' desire to participate in the
merriment surrounding Mardi Gras and
to break the hellishness of their
enslavement. Therefore, they celebrated
in the ways that they knew; singing,
dancing and adorning themselves in
splendor.
In Louisiana, during the 1770's,
orders were decreed prohibiting Black
African slaves from masking, wearing
feathers, and group gathering.
Oftentimes, the Tradition is
defined as a means to express gratitude
to Native Americans for taking the runaway
slaves into their fold and for offering
the slaves freedom from their European oppressors.
I do not wholeheartedly subscribe
to this idea, because there is plenty of
evidence that defeats this idea as being
the sole reason for The Tradition’s
inception. This space is too limiting to
expound.
This acclaimed gratitude of Mardi Gras
Indians for Native Americans is difficult
to digest, when a number of Native tribes,
supposedly, owned African slaves. One most
notable tribe is the Cherokee Nation.
My travel, outside of the United States,
props up my idea, which disputes the Tradition's
only reason to have come into existence is
gratitude to the Native Americans.
I have seen the similarities in
the traditional celebrations of other
African descendants in non-African
countries, especially the areas of
the Caribbean Sea.
Their celebrations consisted of
the same rhythmic drumbeats, chants
and dances as the Mardi Gras Indians.
Amazingly, their costumes exhibited
the same sewing styles and flamboyancy
as well. They used feathers to form
their headdresses also.
The Tradition has managed to
survive the horrendous conditions of
oppression that is particularly the
“southern way.†Its continued existence
has rested, mainly, on the loyalty of
Black New Orleanians to intuitively
preserve their cultural heritage.
We still struggle to keep The
Tradition alive. We have to fight the
forces that attempt to stop us through
their hate filled actions. Caucasian police
officers have harassed me while I legally
paraded through the streets of New Orleans.
On March 19, 2005 the police
attacked, roughed up, and arrested
tribe members for not quickly
dispersing a gathering of the Indians
and their fans. March 19th is the
annual Catholic Church's remembrance
of Saint Joseph. Donning our suits and
gathering on this day, at nightfall, is
a long held and widely known tradition
for the Mardi Gras Indians.
The Yellow Pocahontas' former, now
deceased, Big Chief, Chief of Chiefs, who
masked 53 years, Allison Marcel "Tootie"
Montana dropped dead while speaking to
the New Orleans City Council, June 27,
2005, asking them to stop the police from
harassing us.
Through our artwork, we are social
activists in that we do not fear reprisal
in relating the true stories of men,
especially Black and Native folk of
America.
One aspect of the Mardi Gras Indian
tradition that is never mentioned is the
documented ability of American Black folk,
especially men, to organize into a group
of highly respected artisans and to continue
this organization, for generations, without
outside influence, such as money. The Mardi
Gras Indians have bucked the standards of the
usual way Black folk organizations tend to go,
which is to allow outsiders to take control
of their groups.
When considering the intelligence, the fearlessnesses and the artistic skills of the
Mardi Gras Indians, we should be viewed as a
great American success story, in that the
children of former African slaves were able to
create something out of nothing and pass this
something to generations of Black folk in
America.
There are forty-five known Mardi
Gras Indian Tribes, and growing annually.
The Tribes are hierarchically ranked. Note
the captions under the photos, which lists
the positions within a tribe.
To "mask Indian," many sacrifices
must be made. The toll on an Indian’s
family is immense. Creating these works
of art requires every extra dollar the
family has and the Indian has to dedicate
many concentrated hours to the tedious,
hand sewing.
There is a personal dedication,
satisfaction and a sense of pride that
is the greatest part of masking Indian,
which is indescribable. I masked with a
broken ankle, when I wore my lime green
suit. I had to change the entire layout
of my suit so there wouldn’t be very much
weight on my healing ankle. I adjusted
my left boot to fit my walking cast. I only
had two weeks to make the modifications, but
I did, because of my deep soul connection
and dedication to masking Indian.
This suit (lime green) had 950,000
individually, sewn sequins before the changes.
I sewed another 20,000 onto the designs to
accommodate the alterations. I had to make
a walking cane as well. You can see that the
left boot is larger than the right one in the
photo scroll above.
Our creations are copyrighted as
"Soft Sculpture." Designing or thinking
up ideas for each suit is the hardest
part of sculpting wearable art. It takes
approximately eighteen months to design
and sew a suit. The thinking up ideas and
designing takes up most of the time in
creating our masterpieces. The sewing is
easy once you get passed the creating
process.
Tradition dictates we make a new
suit for every Mardi Gras, which is the
first time they can be seen publicly.
The weight of a male, adult suit
varies from 90 lbs. to 150 lbs and more.
The costumes worn by men are more elaborate
and weigh much more than a woman's.
The Big Chief's suit is the biggest,
the heaviest, and the prettiest.
Big Chief Tootie Montana is credited
with starting the raised design, which is
termed, which may be considered "3-D (dimensional)."
The designs are the intricately crafted
and colorful features of our suits.
Big Chief Tootie may have been
the first Indian to use battery-powered
lights on one of his suits. He reportedly
did this so his suit could be seen at
night.
I may be the first Indian, male or
female, to have mechanically moving parts
on a suit. My pink suit had clocks as
centerpieces on the front and the back.
The hands were functional and the pendulum
of the front clock moved as well.
Take note that my suits were not
designed like the other female suits.
I created my suits to be comfortable,
first, and innovate. I do all of the
designing and sewing of my suits.
I am adamantly opposed to anyone
touching my suit before it is completed.
I don't have people to help me sew, but
I do have someone to stick and tie my
feathers together, because this process
requires bending at the waist for long
periods, which places great strain on the
lower back.
Our headdresses, which are called
crowns, are made with turkey feathers.
All of the other tribes use ostrich feathers,
or plumes, but many of them are now creating
their suits, as we do, by raising their designs
and by making turkey, feathered headdresses
entwined with plumes.
Many Indians' suits are permanent
exhibitions at a few museums. Exact
replicas of some suits were designed for
dolls. Our suits are for sale.
We perform worldwide. We sing and
dance to the beating of tambourines. Often,
we are participants in museum exhibitions,
festivals, Native American pow-wows, parades, lectures, and
studies.
President Reagan honored big Chief
Tootie Montana. He was the recipient of the
National Endowment for the Arts and National
Heritage Fellowship Award.
We are the subjects of a number of
documentaries. There are numerous,
written, published works featuring
our art.
Many Indians have been invited and
granted monies to teach this art form in
public schools as well as universities.
The Indians can be seen on Mardi
Gras day throughout the black communities
of New Orleans. To witness the full
regalia of The Tradition, attending
one of the Super Sunday parades is
a must.
The original Super Sunday parade
was started by one of New Orleans' Black
social activist, Jerome Smith, in the early
seventies. Super Sunday has become
an integral part of masking Indian.
The Mardi Gras Indian Tradition
is another testament of the many
outstanding contributions Black folk
has given to America. This folk-art
is one of the United States’ national
treasures, but is unknown to most of
its citizenry. To learn more of
the Mardi Gras Indian Tradition search
the internet using Big Chief Tootie
Montana‘s name.
The Effects of Hurricanes Katrina
and Rita: I lost all of my costumes
to the devastating flooding that
occurred during and after Hurricane
Katrina ravaged New Orleans.
Hurricane Rita caused additional flooding,
which made the devastation worse. I was able
to salvage the yellow headdress. This is a
miracle, especially when I lost everything
else I owned. Ironically, the yellow suit
was my prayer of humble gratitude to The
Great Creator. It will take me years to
replace the supplies I lost, which are
needed to create these elaborate works
of art.
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